Migratory Game Bird

Hunting Opportunities
in Montana
Montana has a wide variety of opportunities for hunting migratory game birds,
including ducks, geese, swans, coots, sandhill cranes, doves, and snipe. One
needs to pay special attention to hunting regulations, including season dates and
bag limits, because they may differ between flyways, with the western half of
the state being in the Pacific Flyway, and the eastern part in the Central Flyway.
Remember that nontoxic shot is required statewide to hunt ducks, geese, swans,
and coots. On most federal areas nontoxic shot is required for all shotgun hunting. Also keep in mind that shooting hours for migratory game birds are from a
half hour before sunrise to sunset, not a half hour after sunset, as they are for
big game and upland game birds.

Ducks and Coots

Duck and coot seasons generally begin in late
September or early October, with a two-day
Youth Waterfowl Season the preceding weekend.
Because Montana is a significant duck production state, there are a number of species of ducks present when the season opens.
Among the more common species early in the
season are mallard, gadwall, pintail, wigeon,
shoveler, and in some areas along creeks and
rivers, wood duck.
Blue-winged teal are also a common nesting
species, but most of those have left the state
by the time the season opens. (Montana is
not allowed by the Fish and Wildlife Service
to have a special early teal season like some
states because it is a production state.)
During mid-season, green-winged teal become more common, and some diving ducks
including lesser scaup and redheads may be
found in some areas.

Late in the season, in December and January,

species that are still present are primarily
mallards and common goldeneyes.
Mallards are always by far the number one
species of duck in the bag.

Where to Hunt
There are places to hunt ducks throughout
the state, but finding those places often
requires time, effort, and scouting.
Migratory bird hunting is allowed on portions
of several national wildlife refuges and on
all of the Waterfowl Production Areas, both
owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
There are a few state wildlife areas that
offer hunting opportunities. Inquire at FWP
Regional Offices. Also check out FWPs Wildlife Management Areas.
One significant hunting opportunity that
is often overlooked is the large number of
reservoirs and stock ponds scattered across
much of the state, some of them on BLM
land and some on private land. Many of

those are shown on BLM maps or other maps.

These reservoirs and stock ponds often have
good numbers of ducks and Canada geese on
them early in the season and in some cases
until they freeze over.
The many rivers and creeks also can provide
hunting opportunities, sometimes until the
end of the season if they dont freeze over
and if food is available for waterfowl. Many
of the Block Management Areas provide waterfowl hunting opportunities.

Geese
Goose hunting in Montana is largely for
Canada goose hunting.

Snow Geese
About the only place that snow goose hunting opportunities are consistently available is
at or in the vicinity of Freezout Lake Wildlife
Management Area near Fairfield and other
important wetlands along the East Front of
the Rocky Mountains. Snow goose arrival and
departure at Freezout is somewhat variable,
but the geese are most likely to be there in
very late October and the first half of November, depending on how soon the area
freezes over. In some years the snow geese
are there for only a short time, arriving late
and forced out by early ice-up.
Some snow geese also migrate through the
northeastern corner of the state as well as
a scattering through other areas (including
west of the Continental Divide on occasion),
but numbers dont build up, and hunting opportunities are very limited and sporadic.

White-fronted Geese
White-fronted geese also migrate through
northeastern Montana but there are seldom
opportunities to hunt them. If you are in

that corner of the state on an October migration day for these species, they may add
to your enjoyment of the day, if not adding
to your bag.

Canada Goose
Canada goose hunting opportunities, on the
other hand, are available throughout just
about all of the state. The season usually
opens in late September or early October
and runs generally through the second week
of January. Montana has resident (nesting)
Canadas in nearly all of the state, and early
in the season they are widely distributed,
including many reservoirs and larger stock
ponds, as well as rivers and creeks.
The Canada geese that nest here and that
make up most of the hunter harvest, are
Western Canada geese, large birds that
weigh about 9-12 pounds. The smaller
5-7-pound geese that migrate through the
state nest farther north, in northern Canada, and they are generally here during the
middle part of the season.
By mid-November, as wetlands freeze up, the
geese are forced to areas along rivers that
have open water. Open water remains in
some areas into January, and good numbers
of Canada geese may remain in some areas
through the end of the season. However, if
severe storms occur and especially if snow
covers their food supply in the fields, an earlier departure of most geese will occur.
The geese feed in a variety of fields, including wheat, barley, corn, sugar beets, and
alfalfa. Some over water hunting is done
throughout the season, but most of the hunting, especially late in the season, is done in
fields over decoys.
The same tips given for access for duck hunting also apply to Canada goose hunting. Ac-

cess is becoming more difficult in some areas

as more fields are leased for goose hunting.
Hunters should be aware that a portion of
the Yellowstone River is closed to waterfowl
hunting in Treasure and Rosebud counties
from the mouth of the Bighorn River to the
Rosebud-Custer County line, about 3 miles
east of Hathaway.

Swans
Only a handful of states in the country offer
an opportunity to hunt swans, and Montana
is one of them.
Swan hunting may be done only by holders
of a special permit, with 500 permits available in the Central Flyway (CF) part of the
state and 500 permits available in for use in
a portion of the Pacific Flyway (PF) part of
the state.
It is important to carefully note the area
open to swan hunting in the PF. The re ason
some areas are not open is to protect trumpeter swans that may be in those areas,
while allowing swan hunting in the main
concentration areas for tundra swans.
The CF season is for tundra swans only, while
both tundra swans and trumpeter swans may
be taken in the PF swan hunting area. Hunters there are urged to avoid shooting trumpeter swans, even though they are legal.
The PF swan season opens later and closes
earlier, another measure to help target
tundra swans and minimize the harvest of
trumpeters.
In the PF, the tundra swan migration occurs
mainly along the Rocky Mountain Front, with
the biggest concentration at Freezout Lake
Wildlife Management Area, where good numbers are usually found from about October 25
through mid-November, depending on tem-

peratures and freeze-up. Other wetlands in

the area will also have some swans.
CF tundra swans migrate across a broader
area of the eastern half of the state, with
some of the main concentration areas in
northeastern Montana. Almost any sizable
wetland in the CF portion has the potential to have swans at some point during the
migration. A good period to be looking for
migrating swans is about October 20 through
November 10. The northeastern corner of
the state can experience freeze-up early in
some years.
Many hunters are successful in taking a swan
by pass shooting if they can get on a flight
line and get the birds within 40 yards. Some
prefer to shoot over get a swan coming to
decoys, as the birds often come readily to
a small number of any type of large, white
decoys.

How to Apply
The application deadline for swan permits is
usually in early September, and a person may
apply for a permit in the PF or CF, but not
both. A hunter may have a permit for each
part of the state by drawing a PF permit
and then getting a surplus CF swan permit
when they become available. Your chances
of being drawn for a PF permit are usually
about 50 percent or a bit less than that, but
there are always surplus CF permits left over
that may be obtained even after the season
is underway. Instructions for applying for
permits and getting a surplus permit are on
the FWP website and in the migratory game
bird regulations.

Sandhill Cranes
Montana offers hunting opportunities on two
sandhill crane populations.

Mid-continent Population (MCP)

How to Apply

The Midcontinent Population (MCP), which

numbers around 400,000, nests far to the
north, even in Siberia, and migrates through
the eastern part of the state, generally from
late September through October. While
thousands of MCP cranes fly through the
state, they are hard to hunt because, as was
confirmed by satellite te
dies, they
spend very little time in the state before
moving south. That makes it difficult for a
hunter to pattern the birds, so they can be
a challenge. Just being out amongst the
cranes on a migration day and hearing their
rattling calls makes for a memorable day
afield. You generally hear them before you
see them.

There are several crane hunting units in the

PF part of the state and the western part of
the CF, and a person may apply for only one
unit. The application deadline is usually in
late July and is announced in news releases
and on the FWP website. The hunting season
is in September.

Special Permit Needed

A special permit is required to hunt these
cranes, and it can be picked up at no charge
at the FWP Regional Offices in the eastern
part of the state or requested from our Helena office. The permit provides a means to
monitor hunter numbers and harvest.

Rocky Mountain Population (RMP)

The Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) of
greater sandhill cranes nests right here in
Montana, as well as in Idaho and Wyoming.
These birds are larger (10 to 13 pounds) than
the MCP cranes. Because this population
numbers only about 20,000, hunting opportunities are closely regulated in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
through a permit system in each state where
hunting is allowed. These cranes migrate
quite early, and most are gone from the
state before the end of September. Most of
the crane hunting is done by pass shooting
or over crane decoys. A hunter may have
permits for and hunt both RMP cranes and
MCP cranes.

Doves
Two species of doves are legal to hunt in
Montana, the mourning dove and the Eurasian collared-dove.

Mourning Doves
Mourning doves nest throughout most of
Montana but are most common in the eastern 2/3 of the state where there is a mix of
crop fields and scattered trees, with a pond
or other water source nearby. They are one
of the most common bird species in the U.
S., and their harvest exceed that of all other
migratory game birds combined.
The season in Montana always opens on September 1, no matter what day of the week it
happens to be, because doves migrate out of
the state early, especially if there are some
cool nights in late August or early September.
Some hunters wish that the season opened
earlier so that there would be more days of
hunting before the birds leave. However,
September 1 is the earliest opening permitted under the federal framework of the
Migratory Bird Treaty much to the frustration
of dove hunters when a cold front in late August pushes the birds south. Mourning doves
will hatch and raise more than one brood a
year, and there is concern that opening much
earlier would result in the harvest of adult
doves that still have young in the nest.

Eurasion Collared Dove

The Eurasian collared-dove is a native of

Europe and Asia. It was accidentally introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s when
some birds in a pet store were released. The
species got to Florida and rapidly spread
across the U.S. They are now found throughout nearly all of Montana. They are larger
than a mourning dove, with a rounded tail
with white tips, and with a black ring around
the back of the neck.
Since they are not native, Eurasian collareddoves are not considered a protected species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
having a status similar to a starling or house
sparrow. The FWP Commission has also left
them with an unprotected status in Montana,
so they may be hunted year around with no
license and no limit. Even though they are
widely distributed in Montana, its likely that
not many will be shot by hunters because
they tend to stay in towns, rather than out in
the country.

Snipe
The season on common (Wilsons) snipe
always opens on September 1. There are opportunities for snipe hunting, especially the
first few weeks of the season in wet areas
with short vegetation, such as wet pastures
or the edges of wetlands.
Snipe nest in scattered areas in Montana,
and some also migrate through the state, but
there are no concentration areas.